My London+

NaBloPoMo – Day 18

New Wimbledon Theatre (currently closed)

Cheam trail/Cheam Park/Nonsuch Park (NaBloPoMo – Day 17)

Whitehall House, Cheam, built around 1500

I last posted here about Cheam in January this year when I visited Whitehall house. This time I was on the Cheam trail before setting off for a walk through two nearby parks. The trail begins at Whithall House and along the road to The Rectory, the middle of which is either medieval or tudor in style and is said to be haunted by the ghost of Launcelot Andrews, a former rector.

Over the road is the war memorial, behind which is the library, but long before that it was the site of West Cheam Manor. It was demolished in 1796. Just around the corner is St Dunstan’s Church, built in the French Gothic style . The lynch gate is neo-Gothic from 1891.

Lumley Chapel is what is left of the old church, part of which is from the 13th century and is another Grade II listed building.

The churchyard at St Dunstan’s is large and interesting and very photogenic!

Next to the church is The Old Farmhouse a 16th century building with later additions. It is thought that the house was used by priests attached to the church.

The Red Lion pub is one of the oldest pubs in the borough. Built in the 17th century. It is now a Grade II listed building.

Cheam Cottage is a 17th century building but with later additions.

Somehow I missed The Old Cottage, which I believe is now a shop. I took a photo of a parade of shops and thought the cottage was the one at the end, but I think its perhaps on the corner by the main road junction.

Cheam Park Lodge, built in 1820, was the entrance to Cheam Park Estate built for Alexander Palmer, a London Tea Merchant. The lodge was home to the estate’s head gardener.

Nonsuch Park is beautiful with many pathways to walk. It is also home to Nonsuch Mansion built between 1731 and 1843 by Joseph Thompson. There are gardens and today the cafe was open, but only for takeaways. The queue was quite long. More inmportantly the toilers were open!

Music (NaBloPoMo – Day 16)

This is my recording studio! Basic, yes. Actually I was trying to record a voice part for a virtual choir, and here you see my laptop (ear pieces plugged in to listen to the track) and my Tablet hanging from the top of the laptop to record the video and voice. On the left is the scribbled words to the song.

This was all done in my bedroom, the only room I could record in. I had to wait for the downpour of rain to stop as it was very loud on the window and would have interferred with the recording. It took several goes, but I got there in the end.

I don’t get to much live music, but I do love it. I’m not keen on musicals, but I do enjoy a concert, including classical. I’m not keen on huge venues, I prefer smaller ones that are more intimate. I can remember seeing The Eagles at Wembley back in the day. More hearing and seeing. Then we had to leave before the end to make sure we could catch a tube home.

You might wonder what this has to do with London, but all the venues I visited have been in London – Wembley, Fairfield Halls (Croydon), The Rose Theatre (Kingston), Wimbledon Theatre, Royal Festival Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Shepherds Bush Empire. I’ve also enjoyed some nice musical evenings in pubs. I’ve never been to musical festival like Glastonbury. The nearerst I got to one of those was when we all went to Cornwall for the Eclipse back in the 90’s. Across a field there was a music festival. We could hear the thump, thump of the music. from the caravan site. Apparently my nephew was there!

I enjoy taking photos at the concerts I do get to, though in those early days my camera wasn’t as good, or I was too far away. I’ve been through a range of cameras over the years. My first attempt was with my dad’s Box Brownie (that ages me!), but my first camera was a Kadak Instamatic with two settings (sun and cloud) and a place to stick the flash bulbs on! I think it cost me around £6. Wow, hasn’t the world of photography moved on?

Brian Wilson in concert Royal Festival Hall – 2008

Mike and the Mechanics – Shepherds Bush Empire – 2017

Weather Report – NaBloPoMo – Day 15

The above photo was taken in London a couple of weeks before national lockdown in March. I may have posted this photo before, but I do like it.

The weather this weekend has been appalling. It rained virtually all day yesterday, and the wind picked up. Rain was beating upon the window like crazy. This morning began the same and my heart sunk. But although now as I write (11.15am GMT) the sky has cleared and there are blue bits up there, I see angry clouds forming again. This looks like another stay-at-home day.

So, today I thought I’d post some weather pictures – interesting skies and different types of weather. Hope you like them.

Boats iced in the water, Limehouse Basin, London (January 2013)

Reflections after the rain, Bletchingly, Surrey, 2014

An obsession with London books – NaBloPoMo – Day 14

I think you could say that I’m a little obsessed with books about London and books about rivers. I buy them new and second hand. I also have a box I call my tourist box which contains leaflets and bo0klets, maps and postcards from other places I’ve visited in the UK, or would like to visit.

There is nothing I like better than to spend time on the internet planning or researching places to visit. Right now travelling isn’t something any of us can do much of, but it doesn’t stop me making lists!

This year I have found places in my locality I didn’t know were there. I’ve also walked and taken more photos this year than I would normally do. I’m a bit of an itinary freak. I like to have an idea of what I am doing and when on holiday. Just taking things as they come isn’t really me, but I do try and take time out. When I stayed in Winchester I spent part of most afternoons reading in the garden. But it’s not long before I’m planning again.

Of course some of these books overlap, but that’s okay, because there is always that bit of information in one that might not be in another, or a better map to follow. I have sometimes taken two books out with me, or a book and a map I’ve downloaded from the internet. And yes, I do use both. I switch between them depending on what I want to know. I also love just flicking through them. I don’t think I realised just how many London books I had until I got them out to photograph them for this blog. Maybe that’s my cue to stop buying books about London. Let’s see how that works out!

Wimbledon Park – NaBloPoMo – Day 13

I haven’t been here since my grown up children were small, but this is an amazing park.

I’d arranged to meet a friend. There is a cafe here with an outside terrace. Ideal for social distancing outside (which is what we are allowed to do right now with one person not from our own household). We arrived at exactly the same time, though we came from different parts of London. Firstly we stopped for a hot chocolate in the cafe before we walked the perimeter of the park. As you can see from the photo above there are lots of tennis courts, but there is also a lake, running track, playground, gardens, beach volleyball, crazy golf (great to see that’s still here), toilets and the cafe.

The park has always been busy. With schools back it is mainly mums with pre-schoolers, or nursery schools with a class of tiny children wearing high-vis tabbards. Across the lake you can clearly see the All England Tennis Club which hosts Wimbledion fortnight in June/July every year (except this one, of course).

Across the lake you can see All England Lawn Tennis Club

The cafe offers hot and cold food, kids meals and a range of hot and cold drinks. The Vegetable Lasagne was delicious. My friend had a jacket potato with tuna. It only offers takeway right now, so everyhting is delivered in polystyrene with throwaway cutlery. I hate this, I really do, and I am torn between my hatred of throwaway cups etc., and supporting local businesses, which are suffering right now due to Covid restrictions. It’s a hard one. I have my own reusable mug, but no one will take them right now.

The park used to house Wimbledon Manor House and you can read about it’s history here. The nearest train station is Wimbledon and it is around a twenty minute walk from there. The underground (District Line) station of Wimbledon Park is right by the park.

Alexander Road. Across the supermarket car park is the Disrict Line going in and out of Wimbledon

NaBloPoMo – Day 12

The River Thames – Cookham (NaBloPoMo – Day 11)

In 2015 I travelled to Cookham in Berkshire, primarily to visit the Stanley Spencer Gallery.

It just so happenes that the village is by the River Thames, part of the Thames Path. Did I need any more excuses to go?

It was a perfect day, hot and sunny. Getting there was fun though. There was some trouble on the railway and I had to get off the train at an earlier station. Staff normally lay on rail replacement buses which this happens. However, that day there were cars! I had to bundle in tha back of a car with two others and each of us was dropped at the station we going to. One of the strangeest experiences I have ever had. We also just missed being a crash, as a lorry shed its load! Thankfully, after that the day improved.

After visiting the Gallery (a long wished for visit that didn’t disappoint), I wandered along the Thames Path towards Bourne End. I didn’t quite get all the way, but I was within touching distance.

I recently found out that Stanley’s daughter Unity, died in 2017 and is buried at Holy Trinity Church, Cookham. Being the daughter of Stanley was difficult in her younger years. Like most artists (it seems) he wasn’t the easier man to live with. She led a distruptive life according to a book I read recently. However, according to her son John, Unity found being Stanley’s daughter later in life more of a pleasure. You can read more here.

Here are some pictures from that day.